Townes Van Zandt – Pancho And Lefty (Ukulele)

Key
-
Versions (3)

Auto-scroll

Chords

[Verse 1]
C
Livin' on the road, my friend

G
Is gonna keep you free and clean

F
But now you wear your skin like iron

C                              G
And your breath's as hard as kerosene

F
You weren't your mama's only boy

C                         F
But her favorite one, it seems

Am                        F        G
She began to cry when you said goodbye

F                  Am
And sank into your dreams
[Verse 2]
C
Pancho was a bandit, boys

G
Horse was fast as polished steel

F
Wore his guns outside his pants

C                         G
For all the honest world to feel

F
Pancho met his match, you know

C                    F
On the deserts down in Mexico

Am                F     G
No one heard his dyin' words

F                   Am
But that's the way it goes
[Chorus]
F
And all the federales say

C                           F
They could have had him any day

Am                 F    G
They only let him slip away

 F                Am
Out of kindness, I suppose
[Verse 3]
C
Now Lefty can't sing the blues

G
All night long like he used to

F
The dust that Pancho bit down South

C              G
It ended up in Lefty's mouth

F
The day they laid poor Pancho low

C                 F
Lefty split for Ohio

Am               F        G
Where he got the bread to go

F                        Am
Well there ain't nobody knows
[Chorus]
F
And all the federales say

C                           F
They could have had him any day

Am                 F    G
They only let him slip away

       F               Am
Out of kindness, I suppose
[Verse 4]
C
Now poets tell how Pancho fell

G
Lefty's livin' in a cheap hotel

F
The desert's quiet and Cleveland's cold

C                 G
And so the story ends, we're told

F
Pancho needs your prayers, it's true

C                   F
But save a few for Lefty too

Am               F         G
He only did what he had to do

F                   Am
And now he's growin' old
[Chorus]
F
And all the federales say

C                           F
They could have had him any day

Am                 F    G
They only let him slip away

       F            Am
Out of kindness, I suppose
[Final Chorus]
F
A few gray federales say

C                            F
They could have had him any day

Am                F      G
They only let him go so long

       F            Am
Out of kindness, I suppose